The drive motor of a motor vehicle serves primarily for generating a driving force which is transmitted to at least one driven wheel in order to move the motor vehicle. Modern drive motors include, for example, an internal combustion engine such as a spark-ignition engine or diesel engine. Since an internal combustion engine consumes fuel even when not transmitting a drive force, various methods have been proposed to reduce fuel consumption in driving situations were no driving force is required.
It is known, for example, from WO 2010/121861 A1 titled “Method for Operating a Vehicle Having a Freewheel Mode or a Rolling Mode,” to operate a vehicle as a function of the result of a plausibility check of an automatic speed control function or adaptive speed control function and/or other current vehicle operating data or vehicle state data in a driving mode where frictional engagement in the drive train is interrupted and the drive motor is operated at an idling speed or switched off. However, this method does not optimize fuel efficiency and engine responsiveness in driving situations.
Therefore it is desirable to provide a method for operating a motor vehicle that improves fuel efficiency and engine responsiveness in driving situations.